YouTube Star Austin Jones charged with child pornography
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When Austin Jones entered the scene in 2007, YouTube was still a brand new frontier for many on the Internet. What captured people, however, were his acapella cover videos, full of talent and creativity that jump started him the more than 550,000 subscriber he has today. He had an abundance of opportunities at the helm. On Tuesday, however, he entered an entirely different scene: a courtroom, where he was charged with two count of child pornography in his home state of Illinois. Each charge holds up to a minimum of 15 years in prison.
It all started when a teenage girl who, according to reports is 14 years old, contacted Jones through Facebook, stating she was his biggest fan. According to text messages provided by Homeland Security, he prompted her to “prove it”. He began to request for her to send him videos dancing in a “sexually suggestive manner” and to “make it clap super loud and talk about your age the whole time,” according to reports. This isn’t the first time Jones has been in a social media firestorm. About a year ago, Jones had posted an apology to his Facebook, apologizing to his female fans for asking them to “twerk” for him. Jones, who is 24-years-old, adamantly denies that anything went past that.
Despite the apology, a massive petition to have him kicked off of Vans Warped Tour has gone viral, citing that “the importance of fan safety, especially those of underage children.” So far, Warped Tour has not commented on the charges nor the petition. Since his arrest, Jones has waived his Miranda Rights and allowed Homeland Security to conduct video interviews, where he admitted to speaking to numerous underage girls on Facebook and Twitter to have sexually explicit conversations. In one instance, there is even video evidence of Jones sending on of the girls involved a video instructing her on how to twerk. That victim sent Jones 15 videos, including 10 videos of her exposing herself, according to the complaint. Jones allegedly told her what to wear, how to dance and how to adjust the camera “so I can see you from head to toe.”
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If found guilty, Jones could receive a minimum of 30 years for the combined charges. For now, over 6 girls are filing complaints against him, with evidence going back to 2012; only two cases are currently being used to criminally charge him
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